Hibs hero insists shock escape job at latest club would trump 2016 as greatest achievement of career targeted
The former Hibs star is now a manager at a fellow Premiership club.
A hero of Hibs 2016 Scottish Cup winning squad insists survival at his latest club would be the greatest achievement of his football career.
Livingston have looked destined for the Premiership drop for weeks, having been promoted via the play-offs last season, having won once all season prior to last weekend’s 2-0 success at St Mirren. Anything other than that would have left their top flight status at risk but they have a glimmer of hope as 12 points are left up for grabs. They are nine off Kilmarnock in the relegation play-off spot of 11th while St Mirren’s safety spot in 10th is 11 adrift.
Bartley became manager earlier this year after David Martindale stepped into the sporting director role at Livi. The former midfielder - who spent 2015-2019 at Hibs where he won the Scottish Cup and Championship - takes his side into a clash with Aberdeen on Friday night. He admits keeping Livi up against all the odds would trump anything else he has completed in football.
Marvin Bartley on objectives at Livingston
Speaking ahead of the Dons game, Bartley said: "It would be the best thing that I've ever achieved in football. I was part of a Bournemouth team that started on -17 in League Two and we survived. So that took some going. But to inherit the team at the time I did, for the fixtures that we had, it'd be the best thing I've ever achieved in football.
"Bournemouth actually went into administration twice. We started the season on minus 17. We managed to stay up that season and then we got promoted the following season. When you look back now it was unbelievable to achieve that. And, again, that's probably helped me in terms of my mentality because we didn't really care about the league table. It was just the next game, the next game.
"You had to. You're winning three or four games and looking at the other teams and they're going up the way. I try not to ever go back and say, 'Oh, look what I did'. I'd just say try to write your own stories. Obviously, there are stories out there.
Livingston vs Aberdeen assessed
"Leicester is probably the biggest one in terms of winning the Premier League title. But you can write your own story and that's what I try to remind them."
Midfielder Scott Arfield said of the challenge ahead against Aberdeen: “The win was long overdue. I actually think the performance was one where we didn’t play as well as we have done. Football is a funny game. It’s about being as effective as possible and winning as many games as we can. There’s a vibrance about the place. It makes a hell of a difference, that win.”